08/01/2023
This past weekend a mother was killed in her home in Oklahoma City in the presence of her two children.
After killing her, the non-custodial parent kidnapped the five-year-old that he co-created then took off.
An Amber Alert was issued and my husband happened to be in a juvenile court room packed with DHS social workers and it was a symphony of phone notification sounds playing all at once.
It was not a good moment. What few of us knew at that moment was the details of the horror that had just ensued.
That drives home our point, the reason we exist. What people don’t know about the dangers of an unregulated desperate person who is raw with real or imagined threats to their livelihood, can hurt them.
I am in no means directing blame to the victim…to the contrary.
This is a whistle-blowers blow to beg others, everyone, to pay attention to subtleties that begin to appear as a person begins to lose all sense of and abilities to keep from lashing out because they are missing the very components that are supposed to exist to prevent such awfulness to occur.
We dodged the bullet - literally - as this family had legally intended-to-be protections in place that failed or were not able to proceed, as we could have provided this parent a means to safety, neutrally and carefully provide access to his child - in the legally-provided means possible.
His disregukation prevented many of his coping skills to kick in, including those of patience (for the process to meet his desires) and understanding (of him self).
Please, if you cross the path of a hurting person, be aware that you can never know what’s floating around in their head - how much harm has affected their ability to be present in the moment and readily access tolls they need to confront their distress it’s in a healthy way.
What happened this week shines a spotlight on how unhealthy an unhealthy person can devastate another.
We grieve the loss of a caring parent who sought all available resources to her and her family. We mourn the fact that those intended supports and protections failed her. And we wish, with all the power our live-filled wish can offer, all the best supports to the surviving children who went through hell.
May our “god-worshipping” and the good intending folks still here create a new, and functioning safety net for the survivors.
We have been here (for ten years and counting) to help prevent the emotions from bubbling beyond control, to then allow children to have access to a parent, to have their time (I named it “The Child’s Time” to emphasize our role, and a parent’s role, in this process) with the loved one with whom the child no longer resides.
Over these past years, we have learned some hard lessons and lost some parents to violent encounters - the ones lost have included both the victims and the perpetrators.
Let’s no lose sight of the biggest victims; the ones that come in the littlest of packages.
May they find their healthy way.
May we each recognize our ability to help, support or get out of their way.